


it's the great pumpkin, tom wambsgans

by eg1701



Category: Succession (TV 2018)
Genre: Gen, Halloween, M/M, Pre-Slash, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, and then getting shit thrown at you?, forcing ur friend (crush?) to unpack his issues, like very clearly pre slash, that's tomgreg baby!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-24
Updated: 2020-09-24
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:40:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26634496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eg1701/pseuds/eg1701
Summary: Tom shows up at Greg's on Halloween unannounced. Tom drinks all the wine, and Greg shares his candy stash and maybe thinks too much along the way.
Relationships: Greg Hirsch & Tom Wambsgans, Greg Hirsch/Tom Wambsgans
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38





	it's the great pumpkin, tom wambsgans

**Author's Note:**

> uhhhh yeah i'm a slut for halloween so here u go u didn't ask but i'm giving it to you.

“What the fuck is that?” Tom asked, nodding to the orange plastic bowl in Greg’s arms. Since Greg had been expecting a child in costume, and not Tom in work clothes, he stared for a moment before speaking.

“It’s candy,” Greg replied stupidly, “Halloween candy.”

“Oh,” Tom brushed past him and let the door slam behind him. Greg shrugged, and set the bowl back on the side table. He’d been pretty proud of his purchase. The bowl had been on sale at the drugstore because the paint on it was chipping, and so the ghosts had giant streaks through them. He shifted some of the candy around and heard Tom in the kitchen. It was more than likely he was looking for a drink.

“I thought you were a trick or treater,” Greg called, hoping to explain his surprise at seeing Tom at his door. He unmuted the TV, and sat back down. There were several candy wrappers next to him, where he’d been snacking on the bowl earlier that evening, and he quickly brushed them onto the floor. Tom would say something if he saw them probably.

“Nope,” Tom popped open a bottle of wine. Greg watched him pour a good portion of it into a glass-- not even a wine glass, just a regular drinking glass. He took a very long sip, “Just fucking little old me.”

“Uh, did you want candy anyways? I mean, you don’t have to be a trick or treater to have candy. I have a lot.”

“No,” Tom said. He came into the living room and sank into the chair, loosening his tie as he did, “I’m not a fucking child.”

“I think like, Hershey’s bars are for all ages. They don’t have an age restriction.”

Tom glared at him and Greg shut up about the chocolate. 

“What are you watching?” he asked, after several moments.

“Uh Carrie I think. It just came on. Did you want to watch?”

“My life is a fucking horror movie,” Tom replied instead of actually answering. He could hear people in the hallway. Maybe kids asking for candy. He was glad he’d picked up a couple of bags, even though he’d been unsure if anybody would come. He knew rich kids probably, like, expected big candy bars, but the bags at the store had only been fun size.

“Ok, so like I don’t know if that’s a yes or a no.”

“Sure Greg,” Tom said quietly, “Just leave the fucking movie on. At least I’ve never had fucking pig’s blood dumped on me. I suppose that’s a bright spot.”

Unsure as to what exactly Tom was talking about, and how he ought to respond, Greg left the volume up, went over to pick up a handful of candy, then settled back down. He opened another piece and chewed thoughtfully. Tom had his eyes trained on the TV set like something was going to jump out if he didn’t.

The doorbell rang, and Greg jumped up to answer it. Several children in various costumes shouted at him, and he made sure to admire all of their outfits and hand them several extra pieces of candy to make up for their size. He hoped the children wouldn’t mind quantity over quality. They were polite enough in thanking him.

When the door shut, and he turned around, Tom was looking at him. He was fairly certain Halloween was not a new concept, so he didn’t really understand why Tom was acting like he couldn’t really understand what was going on.

Greg held up the bowl as an offering and Tom shrugged, “Sure. Bring it over here. The alcohol isn’t helping enough.”

He sat the bowl on the coffee table between them, and Tom absentmindedly dug through before selecting a pack of M&Ms and ripping it open. Greg wasn’t sure why he was watching him so intently. He’d seen people eat candy before, but he _thought_ it was because Tom sometimes was a time bomb, when things bothered him, and it was likely he was close to exploding. 

Greg didn’t like being in the blast zone when it happened.

“Have you seen this before?” Greg asked, in an effort to diffuse the situation. It was a neutral enough topic, the movie. And Tom seemed to be at least pretending to enjoy it, so it wasn’t even an out or nowhere topic.

“Of course I have,” Tom replied, “I used to watch a lot of horror movies. When I was younger. I don’t know when I stopped.”

He fell silent, frowning to himself like he was trying to pinpoint a date. Greg didn’t understand why it was such a big deal, but it seemed to be bothering him. He had a feeling Tom used to do and be a lot of things before New York, before the Roys, but it wasn’t any of Greg’s fucking buissness was it.

“I mean they’re showing them all night cause it's Halloween,” Greg shrugged, “So like if you wanted to stay and watch them that’s cool because I was probably going to for a while. Get in the scary mood I guess. It's the spirit of the holiday or whatever.”

Tom looked at him, head cocked slightly to one side, but he didn’t say anything. After a moment he returned to watching the TV. It looked, Greg thought, like he had wanted to say something but then decided against it. What, though, he had no idea. 

“What’s on next?”

“Uh I don’t know,” Greg said, “Poltergeist I think it said earlier in the commercial.”

“Mm,” Tom replied thoughtfully. He grabbed another piece of candy and leaned back in the chair. 

“Did, uh, did something happen?” Greg asked carefully. There was still enough wine in the glass to cover him if Tom decided to throw it, but he sort of got the feeling he wouldn't. 

“It’s fine,” Tom said stiffly, in a way that Greg knew meant it was totally not fine, “Is there more wine?”

“I think that one might be it,” Greg replied. He had a sudden wish that he had stocked up, but Tom hadn’t announced he was coming, and there would have been no need. Even if Tom had said he was coming over, going out to stock up on wine felt… strange, “There’s a lot of candy though.”

Tom stood up and retrieved the wine bottle and another glass. He poured the rest out for Greg and felt around his jacket for his wallet. Greg briefly wondered if he had left without actually planning to leave, but he didn’t ask.

“I”m going to buy more wine,” he announced, “Maybe something stronger. You get the rest of the candy. I’ll be back in a few minutes. Don’t turn that shit off. I don’t want to miss the prom scene.”

Without another word, he left, and Greg stayed still for a moment, processing what had happened. It was obviously not the first time Tom had come to his place unannounced, but usually he had some kind of motive. Now, Greg was pretty sure he just wanted to hang out, but didn’t want to come out and say it. And Greg didn’t mind, not really. 

He went into the other room and retrieved the other bags of candy he’d bought, ripping them open and setting them on the table as well. When Tom returned with _several_ bottles of alcohol, he topped off his glass and selected a fun size Snickers bar and then sat back down. Greg hadn’t touched his wine, but either Tom hadn’t noticed or didn’t care.

A few more kids stopped by, growing older as it got later, and Greg gave out handfuls of candy each time. And everytime Tom watched him like he’d never seen trick or treating before. Finally, Greg knew he had to address it. It was too weird not to.

“It’s just a nice thing,” Tom said, “Giving out candy. We just put a bowl out usually, Shiv and me for Halloween.”

“Alright,” Greg said, only marginally less confused but not entirely sure he wanted to pry it out of Tom, “Are you good man? You’ve had kind of a lot of wine?”

“Fine,” Tom said, though he did set the glass down instead of drink, “I just uh, wasn’t supposed to be home that early. I don’t care what Shiv does, but I wish she wouldn’t do it in the house. In _our_ house. Sometimes I think I should just go fuck someone and get it over with. See if she’s onto something”

“Oh,” Greg said. He knew what Tom was talking about, although Tom had never explicitly told him about it, and he tried to imagine himself in Tom’s position. He’d probably be upset too. He also thought Tom should discuss this with Shiv but that seemed unlikely.

But, he was also pretty sure Tom _did_ care what Shiv did. 

“I mean I guess if you wanted to you could,” Greg shrugged. He sort of wished Tom had just fucking listened to him at the wedding, but it was too late now. Tom wasn’t a very good listener, “Like, if that’s your thing.”

“Uh huh,” Tom said, “It doesn’t fucking matter. Whatever. I don’t give a fuck about it. Any of it. Who fucking cares.”

“It sounds like you’re trying to convince yourself though and not me,” Greg said, and Tom chucked a Reese's cup at him. Greg ducked in time, and it landed on the floor behind him. Tom’s aim was greatly impacted by the sheer amount of wine he had had at this point. That seemed to frustrate him greatly, and Greg braced for another attack.

“Fuck you. You don’t know anything.”

Greg shrugged, “Just saying. Merely an observation.”

“I’m serious. Shut up.”

Tom halfheartedly threw another piece of candy, which landed about a foot away from Greg on the sofa. This one seemed to have less malice behind it. So either Tom didn’t want to put in the effort to throw it, or he thought maybe Greg had a point. 

“Alright,” Greg put a hand up, “I’m sorry. I’ll shut up.”

Tom nodded, “Let’s just watch the movies. I don’t want to fucking think about my own life right now. I just want to sit here and drink this shitty wine, and eat my fucking body wieght in cheap Halloween candy and watch Carrie fucking destroy her entire class with her fucking powers.”

“It sounds like a blast honestly,” Greg said and Tom laughed. It sounded a little manic, but Greg decided not to comment. 

Halfway through Poltergeist, Tom got up and sat on the sofa, pushing Greg over and claiming it gave him a better view of the TV. Greg wasn’t entirely sure if that was true, but he moved over to give Tom more room.

They didn’t talk much during the movie. Occasionally Tom commented on the movie, or asked for the candy bowl, but neither Shiv or Tom’s desire to apparently find a fuck buddy were not brought up again. Greg sure wasn’t going to bring it up. Tom seemed to be either so drunk he wasn’t thinking about it, or feeling slightly better. Either way, Greg wasn’t going to be responsible for making him upset again.

Thirty minutes or so into The Blair Witch Project, the next movie, Tom was asleep on his shoulder. Passed right out-- probably, mostly, from the wine, but it was getting late, and Tom had had sort of a touch evening. Carefully, Greg groped for the remote to turn the TV down, doing everything not to wake Tom up. 

He was _incredibly_ aware of Tom’s weight on his shoulder, of Tom’s hand on his thigh, and of whatever cologne Tom was wearing. He wished he had a blanket or something, but the desire to not get up outweighed the desire to look for one.

Eventually, Greg fell asleep too. It was incredibly uncomfortable, but evidently it didn’t matter. _Evidently_ horror movies and wine, and, well, and Tom, was enough to ensure he could sleep anywhere. There were a lot of fucking implications to all this and Greg was going to address exactly zero of them.

It was probably best to chalk it up to Halloween antics, and move on.

**Author's Note:**

> child...anyway. sorry this wasn't set to a taylor swift song


End file.
